The Envelope Screening Series

'The Master': Paul Thomas Anderson on actors improvising [Video]

If you have seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master,” you might reasonably assume that very little was left to chance.

From its precise cinematography to striking score, the writer-director’s drama about a troubled drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) and a charismatic leader of a new movement (Philip Seymour Hoffman) feels as well-planned as a military operation.

But in this excerpt from the Envelope Screening Series this week, Anderson explains that his two lead actors brought far more to their performances than he ever imagined, and that the film’s production team frequently improvised.